Leader of the House, Minister Indranee Rajah, on the Duties and Privileges of the Leader of the Opposition (Sep 2025)

Mr Speaker, following the General Election held on 3 May 2025, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had announced that Mr Pritam Singh would continue to be the Leader of the Opposition in the Fifteenth Parliament of Singapore, and that he would be given staff and resources to perform his duties. This was reported in the media.

As the position of the Leader of the Opposition is not dealt with in our Constitution or in the Standing Orders of Parliament, I should, for good order, state the duties and privileges of the Leader of the Opposition for the parliamentary record.

Mr Singh's duties and privileges as the Leader of the Opposition in this Fifteenth Parliament will remain the same as those in the Fourteenth Parliament. Those were set out in my Ministerial Statement of 31 August 2020 when the office of the Leader of the Opposition was officially recognised and implemented. They can be summarised as follows.

First, on the Leader of the Opposition's parliamentary privileges:

The Leader of the Opposition will take the seat directly across the Prime Minister in this Chamber during Parliamentary proceedings. This is the same practice as that in other countries which formally recognise the role of the Leader of the Opposition, and was also observed by us in previous terms of Parliament in Singapore in respect of the leader of the main Opposition party.

The Leader of the Opposition will generally be given the right of first response among Members of Parliament to ask the lead question of Ministers on policies, Bills and Motions in Parliament. This will be at the Speaker's discretion and subject to existing speaking conventions.

The Leader of the Opposition will have a longer speech time for debates than other backbenchers - 40 minutes as opposed to the usual 20. I will be moving a Motion to this effect later.

The Leader of the Opposition will also be allocated an office in Parliament and staff support and resources, and his parliamentary allowance will be double that of other MPs.

I have consulted the Speaker on these arrangements, and he has agreed that they remain appropriate. I have also apprised Mr Singh of this.

Next, I touch on the Leader of the Opposition's parliamentary duties.

The Fifteenth Parliament of Singapore is our largest Parliament to date with 99 elected Members. There are twelve Opposition Members, of whom two are Non-Constituency Members of Parliament. As the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Singh will lead and organise the Opposition's parliamentary business in our largest Parliament to date. This includes leading the Opposition in:

Presenting alternative views in parliamentary debates on policies, Bills and Motions;

Scrutinising the Government's positions and actions in Parliament; and

Nominating Opposition Members for appointment to the Standing Select Committees and other Select Committees of Parliament.

Finally, the Leader of the Opposition may be called upon to assume other duties, such as attending official State functions and taking part in visits and meetings alongside members of the Government and the Public Service.

From time to time, the Leader of the Opposition may receive confidential briefings by the Government, on matters to be determined by the Government.

These briefings will promote better understanding across both sides of the House on important national issues such as security and external relations, especially in the event of a national crisis or emergency.

I congratulate Mr Singh on his continuation as the Leader of the Opposition. I look forward to working with him on this Parliament's mission to serve Singaporeans and build a stronger Singapore.